Thomas Boxer
Thomas Boxer was a Human male that was the head anchor for the Galactic News Network. His face was one of the most well known in all of Known Space as he delivered the most important news to Humanity and beyond. Typically, Boxer is the man that delivers the news whenever GNN is on. Biography Boxer was born on the planet of Kelrad in the city of Lesperance. Growing up, he always had an affinity for informing the public about the news, no matter what it was. It was through television that Boxer learned how to read and write. So he naturally watched a lot of news growing up as well. He regularly watched local programs where he learned about other countries on his planet, and even how to basically learn and spell through television shows. Boxer was a quick learner while in school, which allowed him to get ahead in the class. Several reports took after the news programs that he was so fond of, and even earned a blue ribbon in the annual speeches that he was assigned to do. In high school, Thomas was part of the photography club, which used traditional and contemporary photographing methods to capture wildlife and people. After realizing that he was good at this too, he joined the school paper: The Fighting Tiger Times. He is particularly fond of covering an incident where a student had a mental breakdown prior to final exams and nearly killed another student. His editorial on the subject was visceral, informative, and almost transported the reader onto the scene. The school principal recommended Thomas for a scholarship, which would allow him to study journalism abroad for free. He accepted and was soon on the way to UCLA for Advanced Journalism. Right out of sophomore year, Boxer joined GNN as a teleprompter and basic investigative journalist, mostly covering small stories that were mostly on the same planet he was on. Only rarely was he sent to other systems to recover other accounts. Thomas commonly kept a camcorder within his duffel bag just in case a story came along that he just had to film. That opportunity came along when he was 22 years old. An explosion sounded through the streets of San Yatano, a dusty town on Rembrandt, a politically unstable world that was well out of the way that nobody really knew much of. An explosion that was deliberately caused by political malcontents sprung him into action. While the camera was still running, he interviewed the survivors while they were being stitched up by medics. Some of his material was considered too violent for television as some patients were badly injured. One even passed out in front of him. The ones that were kept on though, were broadcast throughout the UEG and even to other civilizations. The explosion in question would be the first strike of a violent war that would lead a newly promoted wartime journalist to document minor wars which stretched three planets. The brush war, in English, was known as 'Just Deserved Punishment'. Punishment for what though is entirely unknown to this day. GNN had Boxer as an anchorman on his return to the station headquarters in Chicago, where he remains to this day. Personality Boxer represents the most important news stories for the world to hear. While on camera, he is stone-faced and deadly seious about the news he reports. He uses dramatics to give the stories spins that make the viewer involved in what is being told. Some think that Boxer has no lighter side because of this, but it is actually known that he has a great sense of humor. GNN has a daily segment that is known as the 'Redonkulist', where viewers send in funny stories for him to read off. As a matter of fact, he has, on camera, busted out laughing a grand total of 10 times in the 20+ years he's been on the air. Behind the Scenes Thomas Boxer serves as a way to get news across to other characters in the Chaos Chronicles universe. Having a news report can be just as effective as a military briefing, since there are more reporters per capita than soldiers in the universe. In my other universe which is called Unknown Space, Boxer serves the identical purpose. Stories that have a civilian main character might watch the news to gain information that they would otherwise not get. The Mobius Chronicles doesn't get this problem as the stories are generally set during one time period, whereas Unknown Space has many different time periods. Trivia *Boxer is obviously a reference to the CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper. His name is quite an interesting connection to the anchor. The last name Boxer is a play on a container. If you cut off part of the name 'Cooper' you have 'coop', which is a container - specifically for chicken. Another name for a container - a box. The suffix '-er' was placed on the end to create the name Boxer. Boxer's first name has a more obscure origin, which is actually from The Matrix. The main character Neo's name in the Matrix is Thomas Anderson, which when broken up is the name of both anchormen. Category:Character Category:Human Category:Civilian